Thread by @rebecca_vincent

Good morning from week two of Julian Assange’s US extradition hearing at the Old Bailey in London! Will share this week’s observations in this new thread.

#FreeAssange 1/

I’m not at court this morning, but have a colleague holding my place so I can hopefully monitor this afternoon’s sitting. He was told 3 of the 5 public gallery places are still being held for these mysterious no-show “VIPs”, meaning only 2 are currently occupied. Ridiculous. 2/

After last week’s Covid scare, witness testimony has resumed with Eric Lewis testifying this morning. Would love to be able to watch remotely, but @RSF_inter & all other NGOs had their access to the video link revoked last week. Back later - hopefully having gotten into court! 3/

Waiting for the doors to open for the afternoon session. Thanks to @RSF_inter’s new Campaigns Officer @AustinPatrickC queuing for hours, I *should* be allowed into the public gallery now. Eric Lewis is expected to continue testifying for the defence. 4/

I got into the afternoon session, but technical difficulties once again prevented witness testimony from continuing. We sat in the public gallery for two hours whilst the court unsuccessfully attempted to reconnect Eric Lewis. Extremely frustrating. 5/

What I did observe was the prosecution, James Lewis, requesting that the judge impose restrictions on how witnesses can answer his questions, and the defence requesting access to Julian Assange in the cells under the court to confer with their client and take instructions. 6/

While NGOs, the public & media face extreme access restrictions, the overflow court is now nearly empty. 5 journalists + 1 political observer were on the floor w/33 empty seats around them, and eventually 5 of us were let into the public gallery, surrounded by 30 empty seats. 7/

This sounds small, but is an example of the death by 1,000 cuts I’ve referred to: there’s been incessant buzzing from a light in the public gallery since Wednesday that’s giving observers headaches & making it difficult to hear proceedings. All it needs is a lightbulb removed. 8/

The hours of queuing, the arguing, the loss of our devices, the lack of so much as water, the buzzing light & other factors all combine to make this fairly miserable. I’m convinced that’s the point - to discourage anyone from sticking with it. But we’ll be here no matter what. 9/

It also makes me think of how utterly awful conditions are for Assange, when each individual issue can be explained away & must await a bureaucratic response - like not having his glasses for months. The cumulative impact must be unbearable - and will be far worse in the US. 10/

Here’s my overview for @RSF_inter on the start of the second week of proceedings. That’s all for tonight - back in the morning, when I’ll try again to get into court. 11/

Good morning from day 6 of Julian Assange’s US extradition hearing! Looks like @AustinPatrickC and I should get into the public gallery this morning. Still no sign of these “VIPs”. Here’s hoping the court manages to connect Eric Lewis this morning to continue his testimony. 12/

We monitored three hours of testimony this morning. Eric Lewis was very strong, despite concerted attempts by the prosecution to rattle him. His remarks on the likely heavy sentencing of Julian Assange, and the treatment he would face in prison in the US, were powerful. 13/

Technical issues were mostly resolved, but in the overflow court, there was serious reverberation from the video link being played in the main court, making it at times hard to follow Eric Lewis’ testimony. This is what those viewing remotely would have experienced as well. 14/

On a positive note, the horrible buzzing light was finally fixed this morning, thanks to the persistence of @dhbln’s complaints. That made proceedings much easier to hear, and I’m grateful to not have a headache today. 15/

I’m working on some other urgent cases this afternoon, but court is back in session - Eric Lewis concluded and another US legal expert, Tom Durkin, is now testifying. I’ll be back at court tomorrow to attempt to monitor further in person. 16/